


10,000 miles with you

by lunacrowne



Series: the daejae trucker AU [1]
Category: B.A.P, K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Truckers, Fluff, M/M, Road Trips, only slightly, runaway!youngjae, trucker!daehyun, various b.a.p. cameos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-10 15:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4397573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunacrowne/pseuds/lunacrowne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daehyun's got a long stretch of road ahead of him. But this time he's not alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	10,000 miles with you

**Author's Note:**

> for the road trip prompt for B.A.P. Bingo.

Daehyun leans a bronze arm outside the window of his 18-wheeler, tank top slightly billowing from the highway breeze. California’s a nice change from the east coast and it’s a shame he can only enjoy it from behind the wheel. Though he’s sweating profusely and doesn’t know how long it’ll be until his next encounter with the pungent smell of cow manure, the freedom of the open road's not bad, not bad at all, and he won't be complaining. He's been driving this truck for years.

He's covered at least a few thousand miles this time around. It's an arduous coast to coast journey to deliver thousands of pounds of snack foods, sure, but it makes Daehyun feel a bit better that there’s at least one shipment of mini cheesecakes in the cargo. Americans will get their cheesecake. The thought of cheesecake makes him hungry and he thanks higher beings for the existence of a pancake house at the next exit. 

  


After having prepackaged food for the past few days, Daehyun feels content after having a real breakfast at the diner. He finishes paying for gas at the convenience store, stepping out and pocketing the gas receipt. He stretches his legs a bit and wonders if he has enough gas until the next rest stop when a bright yellow beanie catches his eye at the station. The yellow beanie belongs on the dark haired head of a pale young man leaning strangely by the pumps. His face is thin but otherwise healthy-looking, squinting in the rays of the sun on his porcelain skin. 

The pale guy is wearing just a little too much in the sweltering heat and it makes Daehyun unconsciously fan at his shirt, but it looks like he doesn't mind. Daehyun jumps a bit when said guy catches his gaze, staring right back at him. Before Daehyun can say anything, however, the guy soon makes conversation with a taller man, and from what he can make out at this distance, he's a trucker too. Daehyun still has a little more to go before his 10 hour regulations are effective so he hops back into the cab of his truck,the image of the yellow beanie at the back of his mind.

  


Daehyun gracefully switches lanes to veer into the weigh station, much to his exasperation.

Back at the mountain pass he encountered possibly the worst pothole in existence, and Daehyun wants to see if the snack foods he's transporting have been shaken and battered from the road bump. He is stunned when he lifts open the cargo grate to see the porcelain skinned male with the yellow beanie from two stops ago nestled within the boxes haphazardly, a bag of chips from the stock positioned at his mouth. He looks at Daehyun like a deer in headlights.

"Oh, um, bumpy ride, huh?"

"Out. Now. Take the chips with you." He speaks to the stowaway, unconsciously flexing a tendon. 

"Wait! Sorry. The other guy wouldn’t take me further, and I was desperate so I hid in here. _Am_ still desperate. Please, can you give me a ride?"

Daehyun's watched enough horror movies to know picking up a hitchhiker could get him killed or end up harboring a fugitive. Coward or not, it was always better to take precautions. His buddy Himchan told him before he had picked up this girl off the side of the road and the next thing he knew she had jacked his car with him shoved in the trunk and drenched in gasoline. They still shiver a bit over this one whenever they have a beer together. 

But this guy doesn't look like a sicko murderer or a cannibal, so he thinks it'll be alright. The guy has the cute dejected expression of a kicked puppy and Daehyun's sure it would haunt him even more if he left him out to bake on the road in the middle of Bakersfield. He would drop him off the side of the road if he attempted to cause any trouble.

"Where do you need to be?" Daehyun asks hesitantly.

More scrambling amongst the boxes. "LA. You think you could take me there?" The guy's expression is hopeful.

"Just get in front." Daehyun sighs. "Grab me a soda while you're at it, will ya?"

"I'm Youngjae." The guy states sheepishly after being ushered in the cab.

"Daehyun."

“Thanks, Daehyun."

"Don't sweat it. I just hope ya don't make hiding in other people's trucks a regular thing."

" I don’t have much, but I'd be willing to repay you with some favors."

"I don't want any favors," he says, guessing the sort of favors Youngjae could be talking about.

"Good, because I've only ever practiced on bananas,"

Daehyun splutters drinking his soda, almost spilling onto precious upholstery. He doesn't know how to respond to that.

"If you don't want a favor, then, how about a song?" Youngjae fiddles with the radio dials until he finds his station of choice and starts crooning along.

" 'Cause were ordinary people..." 

Youngjae's voice is nice and husky, reverberating through the cabin. The open road is usually a lonely place for a trucker like Daehyun, and he'd thought he preferred it that way. But in the presence of company such as Youngjae, it feels like a rare luxury he should've experienced earlier.  

"...Maybe we should take it _slow_..." Youngjae turns to Daehyun as he drags out the note, tilting his head side to side as if encouraging him. "Take it slow, _oh oh oh_..."

"Take it slow..." Daehyun soon sings along, cracking a smile at the other's bubbly laughter.

"You're good at singing." 

"You think so? You're not so bad yourself." Daehyun doesn't miss the way Youngjae wriggles satisfactorily in his seat.

The next song comes on and Daehyun pops the question. "You running away from home or somethin', Youngjae?"

"More like trying to start a new life, you could say." 

"Fair enough. Got a plan?"

"Look... the reason I'm heading to LA...it's for an audition." Youngjae leans close, as if spilling a secret.

Youngjae rummages through his bag, clutches the wrinkled flyer in his grasp like a jewel. "This company called TSENT. They have a branch doing auditions in L.A. I could have a chance to get out of this shithole I'm in and be a singer."

In the next few hours and a couple hundred miles Youngjae talks about his undying love for hip hop and R&B and how he’s literally the only Korean in his town a few states over. Apparently he’s hitchhiked all the way to Bakersfield. He doesn’t mention a lot about his family, and the few words he does happen to have for them aren’t pretty, but Daehyun hums in response nevertheless. Youngjae's a stranger, yet he talks like a longtime friend, and the whole drive flies by.

  
It's soon getting late and Daehyun manages to find parking at a truck stop for the night. No matter how much singing went on the day's drive has left him wiped out and aching for a shower.

"I'm stopping here for the night," Daehyun says as he turns the ignition off. Youngjae stumbles behind him.

"I'm gonna take a shower," he announces. "I bet you'll need one too? This truck stop's got real nice ones."

"You don't mind me going in with you?" the hitchhiker raises a brow.

"It's fine. We're both guys, aren't we?"

“I…it’s ugly,” Youngjae points to his body, pulling down the edges of his shirt. “You’ll probably be grossed out by the scars. There's a lot.”

"I won't look at them." he says, tossing an extra shirt to Youngjae. "You can hold the soap."

He's seen his body, but he still really doesn’t know Youngjae . A half day isn’t enough to know a person, but there’s no way he would let Youngjae sleep on the floor of the cab. After a little brawl they end up lying side by side on the roomy bed in the sleeper.

Daehyun's only got time for a few hours of precious sleep before they hit the road again, but he suppresses his yawn and focuses on the lilt of Youngjae’s voice as he talks excitedly about all the things he’d do once he was famous.

“They’ll write about my hot debut, how before my dreams began I hitchhiked cross country weary and hopeful,” Youngjae gestures to the ceiling in a way that makes his shirt lift a little at the corners to expose his marred belly. “And I’ll tell them, it wouldn’t have been possible without a trucker named Dae-fucking-hyun. And my fans will cry beautiful tears.”

“Praise the lord for your confidence."

“You like it, don't you?"Youngjae laughs into a pillow.”“I’m nervous, what if I fuck up at the audition though? Like I choke or something?”

“Ya won't. Confidence, remember?”

"Thanks, Daehyun. I needed that." Youngjae's hair is ruffled just right against the pillows, and the scent of Daehyun's shampoo wafts from his skin deliciously.

Youngjae ends up falling asleep on him first.

Daehyun’s just a touch sensitive to the other’s thigh pressing against him in his sleep, but it’s endearing that Youngjae was a clinger and he is just too tired to insist on moving the appendage. It's strangely comforting and the warmth lulls Daehyun into a comfortable sleep.

  


 “You didn’t wake me up,”

Youngjae emerges from the sleeper in his own clothes and takes a seat, pouting.

“You were sleeping pretty soundly. I thought it’d be better to not wake you.” Daehyun taps his hands on the wheel. "We're in LA by the way."

"Hey, I think the address for TSENT is somewhere near this convention center..." Youngjae directs from the fine print of the flyer.

"That looks like downtown. Probably another hour until we get there. What do you say to breakfast first?"  


  


"You sure this is the right place?" Daehyun asks as he pulls the truck as best he can on the side of the street full of buildings. 

"Looks like the place."

"I might come back this way after delivering. I can pick you up, if ya want."

“I can’t have you being my personal 18-wheeler chauffeur can I?" Youngjae smiles playfully. 

“I guess this is goodbye then. Thanks, for everything Daehyun.” Soft lips brush briefly against Daehyun's stubbled cheek, stunning him. Youngjae's face hovers momentarily, and Daehyun feels compelled to reach out, but before he regains his senses the other’s already slinging his pack over his shoulder and making his way out.

"I'll see you around."

Daehyun finds the capacity to nod in the end, and drives off. 

The shipments are delivered smoothly to the designated grocery stores, and it's all a blur. Daehyun collects his payments and turns back onto the highway with a lighter truck and a heavier heart. He doesn't particularly know why the cheesecake bar in his hand isn't doing the wonders it should, because he's done with the job and he's heading back home just like normal and he's not sure what else is there to make him reluctant to leave.

The rush hour of LA is increasingly frustrating and Daehyun remembers that Youngjae is somewhere here, at an audition, determining the next step in his life. A strange feeling stirs in Daehyun's gut and he feels a need to see the yellow beanie man just one last time.

Youngjae told him he didn't have a cell phone, and Daehyun doesn't know how to contact Youngjae or if it's appropriate to even consider it. Youngjae could be anywhere, and there's little chance he'll see him, but maybe he could just say goodbye one last time before he goes. It's probably a senseless worrying he has, but Daehyun changes lanes anyway and goes the extra mile literally to get back to the street where he dropped off Youngjae. 

Daehyun's low beams cast over a silhouette sitting strangely on the curbside. It's Youngjae, and Daehyun tosses his cheesecake bar to the floor in favor of flinging the truck door open and running to his side. 

"It was a scam. It's never that easy, isn't it?" Youngjae looks up at Daehyun weakly, clutching his bag to his chest. Upon closer inspection there's a little blood flecked on his lip and a gash on the side of his cheek.

"What happened to you?"

"Those assholes tried to have their way with me, bit one hard, not on the dick though, unfortunately." Youngjae spits. Daehyun cant help but clench his fists at the thought of what Youngjae could've went through.

"Those fuckers--God, did you call the police?"

"Don't be stupid, 'course I did,"

Daehyun gestures to the split lip. "For that,"

"I don't want to explain myself to them. They’d know I'm a runaway. And then what? Send me back home for something worse?" 

 "You're a dumbass. Who could've gotten himself killed."

"It's not like I'm worth much, anyway. People use their bodies to get famous all the time. Except this was a scam."

"Don't say that. Your body is worth more than some overrated fame."

"Somehow I knew you'd come back," Youngjae tugs on the trucker's denim pant leg. "And you did."

"Where are you going to go now?"

"Anywhere but here."

"You can come with me, if ya like to." Daehyun offers. “I'm heading back to D.C., and well, it’s not Hollywood or New York but there’re other chances too. Legitimate chances.” 

"You miss my company, don't you?" Youngjae asks with a smug grin, shakily taking the hand Daehyun's offered.

"We can sing all the way back,"

The setting sun is sharp and Youngjae stands up to perfectly eclipse it in Daehyun’s view. Daehyun swallows a bit when Youngjae's eyes soften.

"Let's do it, if you're serious,"

The next 3,000 miles or so are the best Daehyun's ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> I will come back and edit this later;; got a drivers test tmo >o


End file.
